Thursday, May 12, 2016

Welcome to Day 2! I decided to copy the agenda from the Armchair BEA blog because it perfectly captures the essence of todays post:

Thursday, May 12, 2016: Aesthetic Concerns - Books & BlogsToday is all about aesthetics! The first part of this topic is concerned specifically with the books, the second with our blogs. Here are some guiding questions to get you started!The Books: How often do you judge a book by its cover?I judge a book by it's cover a lot because I'm always on the look out for books with diverse protagonists, so the cover is important in reading the type of books I want to support:

How often are you surprised by what you find? I'm rarely suprised or disappointed if the cover shows diversity prominently.Do you strategize and make sure every book in your series has the same cover design (as far as you are able to) and type?I do with series that I collect. For example I got all three of Brandon Sanderson the Reckoners series in hardcover because I like how they look.How important is it for the visual art on the outside of the book to match or coordinate with the literature art on the inside?It's not too important for me, though I do like the characters to match their descriptions on the cover because I can visualize them better while reading.The Blog: As a book blogger, in whatever form that takes, branding is important. Your colors, your fonts, your style of review, all of these things come together to make the "brand" of your blog - something that makes your reviews and posts and websites, all your various content, immediately recognizable to the people looking for you. What do you do to create a brand on your site? Do you think about these things?One of the best things I did over four years ago was to pay for a blog design by PArajunkee Designs. She really captured the look I wanted for my blog. The avatar reflects my race and my love of yoga as well as books: